The Brother Clock
by shinobi-turtleducks
Summary: ONESHOT. Molly Weasley's clock is unique, but few know where it came from. Not an expensive designer, but from the mischievous minds of the original Weasley pranksters and the desire to help their sister.


AUTHORS NOTE- OK, I wrote this when I was about ten, so bear that in mind. I'd just read the Order of the Phoenix and heard about Fabian and Gideon and i pictured them giving her the clock to make her worry less, and this happened. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

The Brother Clock

Molly Weasley sighed as she ironed yet another potion stained jumper of Fred- no, George- one of the twins'. It was getting ridiculous, really. They couldn't go more than _ten minutes _without causing trouble, could they? Life could _never be complete _without an explosion every half hour, could it? And this latest scheme of theirs! Leaving school to open a _joke shop, _of all things! She hadn't seen a worse pair since-

Her gaze drifted across to the worn but fine clock standing opposite her. It had nine golden hands, each inscribed with the name of one of the family in flowing cursive. Instead of numbers, phrases were written around the face, including _Home, Travelling, Work, School _and _Mortal Peril_. It had been a present, a gift from the original banes of her existence, another pair of pranksters, and it was among her treasured possessions. Abandoning the jumper, she closed the distance and ran a hand over the handsome wood. Reaching around the side, she located a small, discreet drawer, hidden from inquisitive eyes in a panel. With a sigh, she opened it and pulled out a pair of golden hands, identical to the nine attached to the clock, but for the names. Gideon and Fabian.

_*FLASHBACK*_

_She paced the Common Room nervously, mind running through dozens of possible scenarios that could have caused the absence of her two usually punctual brothers. While she knew logically that number 17 for example was unlikely (it involved Hagrid and the Giant Squid), there were still several plausible and worrying reasons why they were two hours late in meeting her. And the meeting had been their idea! Boys, honestly._

_With a click, the tapestry opened, and Gideon and Fabian both were treated to a faceful of hair as she hugged them tightly around the middle, as far up as she could reach. The twins seemed to get bigger every day. Breaking away from them, she employed her best strategies to get them to talk. There was a subtle art to making your average elder brothers squirm, and Molly was something of an expert. First came the Threatening Folding Of The Arms, which started the routine, followed by the Ominous Tapping Of The Foot. By the time the Disapproving Head Shake Of Doom rolled around, the offending parties had their "I'm sorry, please don't kill us!" faces on, but she wasn't having it._

_"And _where_ have _you_ been? Have you ANY IDEA how worried I was? You could have been robbed, or kidnapped-"_

_Gideon interrupted her before she could really build up steam. "Between the Charms classroom and here? Come on, Molls, we're sorry! We were just adding the final touches to your present!"_

_Fabian chimed in. "Yes! We are pleased to say that you have been awarded the Grand Prize of A Special Surprise handmade by Gid and the Fab Fabian Prewett Enterprises!" This was accompanied by the two of them doing a little tap dance and waving their wands at a large box they had brought in._

_With cheesey smiles, the two tap danced their way over to the box. By now, her mood had completely vanished and she was fighting back a laugh. Oh, her boys always made her smile._

_With dramatic drum rolling, the box was slowly raised to reveal a handsome grandfather clock with five golden hands. The boys took up the commentary again._

_"Thank you, thank you, our genius knows no bounds! No need to scream, ladies, we're here until Tuesday!"_

_Rolling her eyes, she succeeded in simultaneously elbowing both of them._

_"Firstly, it's Tuesday already, and secondly, what is this?" she asked, examining it curiously. Around the face were not numbers, but-_

_"Places and/or states of persons." announced Gideon, seeing her gaze. "Look! There are five hands. _These_ ones are mine and Fabians, and as you can see, they are pointing- like yours- to the Common Room."_

_Fabian went on. "However, if I was in detention-"  
>"Merlin forbid-"<br>"then my hand would point-"  
>"to, funnily enough-"<em>

_"the label saying-"  
>"DETENTION!" they both finished triumphantly.<em>

_Looking again, Molly saw that the hands were labelled Fabian, Gideon, Molly, Mum and Dad. Mum and Dad's were pointing at Home, and the twins' and herself's were pointing at Common Room._

_"We're calling it The Brother Clock!"_

_"Since it's a grandfather clock, but- thank Merlin- we aren't grandparents."_

_Molly ignored their banter._

_"So... it tells me where you are? At any time?"_

_They nodded proudly. "You can even add labels and hands!"_

_"We thought it was the perfect gift for our little Mollycoddler-"  
><em>

_"-seeing as you worry so much about us!"_

_They had their "awwww, look at Lickle Mollykins!" faces on, but at that point, she didn't care. She grabbed them close and embraced them tightly around the waists. She didn't speak, but they understood.  
>*END FLASHBACK*<em>

Smiling sorrowfully, Molly wiped the hands clean of dust with her thumb, replacing them carefully.

Fred and George weren't bad kids, really.


End file.
